Owlstone
by Monica Moss
Summary: Hogwarts is replaced with a new school, leaving the old school to have its protective enchantments wear thin. Meanwhile, Harry, now an Auror, and his daughter deal with a security threat to the wizarding world. Finally updated - new style.
1. Introducing Owlstone

**Author's note: This is my first story, (in the Harry Potter section, not my **_**very**_** first story,) so I'm going to give special thanks to anyone who reviews before the second chapter goes up, just FYI.**

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter.

* * *

Introducing Owlstone

Owlstone Academy of Magic Opens!

by Laurae Reets

Five years ago, wizard-kind wouldn't've ever thought it possible that there would be a safer place in the word than Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But on September 1st this year, the official British wizarding school changes to Owlstone Academy of Magic. A representative from the Ministry's Department of Security said, "Owlstone is safer than anyplace else. Enchantments that were put on Hogwarts have been replaced with more powerful spells on Owlstone. I can assure you of that; I, myself, witnessed Harry Potter help with the charming of the school. Despite popular belief, Owlstone _is_ more secure than Hogwarts. For example, the defensive charms on Hogwarts only work as long as the school is occupied by wizards for at least eight months of the year. Experts predict that the spells on Owlstone will last forever. Owlstone is Muggle-Repellent, where Hogwarts was simply disguised. At some point, a Muggle charity will come along and decide to do something about the falling-down shack disguise on Hogwarts. If a Muggle charity were to come near Owlstone, they would remember another project that needs to get done, and rush off. Owlstone is clearly superior. The Ministry wishes all students a productive first year at the new school.

Last Monday, this reporter enjoyed the privilege of touring the school for herself. I can tell students not only is their new school more secure, but it has the finest facilities of any school. Students will enjoy cushioned seats, graffiti-proof desks, a professional-standard Quidditch arena with crystal stands, as well as luxurious classes and dormitories. The library currently contains only the most up-to-date books in pristine condition.

Owlstone is expected to lower student costs. Students no longer have to purchase textbooks and cauldrons; the school has enough to provide each student with one for the years of their enrollment.

Even with the update from Hogwarts, some are not happy about the change. Rubeus Hagrid, part of the Hogwart's faculty for over twenty years, told reporters, "Hogwarts is me home." Although many will miss the old school, the majority of wizards trust that the Ministry's decision to replace Hogwarts is for the best.

* * *

Gently placing the article down, young Lily Potter sniffled. "I wanted to go to Hogwarts!" she remorsed.

Harry sat down beside his daughter. "It's okay, Lily. Tell you what, I can take you for a tour around Hogwarts. They're not really going to tear the place down; too much of wizarding history happened there. You'll still get as good of magical training at Owlstone. I know many of Hogwart's old professors have transferred there.

"Promise you'll take me to see Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, I promise."


	2. Flashback at the Ministry

**Chapter Two is up! Special thanks go to: Luiz4200 and AJ Elfhawk! As part of the the special thanks, you may pick any Harry Potter character to appear in the next chapter. It's up to you!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

Flashback at the Ministry

_Flashback:_

Loud as a dragon's roar, Kinglsley's magically amplified voice blew over the hall: "The votes have been counted. Congratulations to the new Minister of Magic - Arthur Weasley!" Surprised, the Minister felt himself being hugged from all angles.

"I knew you could do it, Arthur, dear," Molly said, tearfully. "We'll have quite a festive party tonight! Arthur became Minister! I am so glad!"

George joked openly, "Not bad for Dad, I'd say. A few years ago, I would've thought that he'd stay in the Muggle Artifact office until he died. But I guess he can pass better Muggle protection laws by being Minister."

"Congratulations, Mr. Weasley!" Harry cheered.

Footsteps approached the celebrating group. "Congratulations, Arthur! I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'd like a word with Mr. Potter." Kingley said over the cheers.

Harry slid throw the crowd of Weasleys.

"Harry! The Ministry's been talking about you! The way you handled the Dark Lord at Hogwarts was excellent!"

"Erm, thanks."

"We were wondering, you wouldn't happen to be interested in becoming an Auror, would you? We know it's a demanding job, but we know you'll handle it better than most others."

"Really? I'd love to be an Auror!"

"Excellent! We will see you Wednesday afternoon in the Auror headquarters. I believe you've seen it before while waiting for that ridiculous hearing?"

"I'll be there!"

"By the way Harry, we have a special favor to ask you. We were worried when Hogwarts had to be evacuated. The Ministry wants to build a safer school to keep out Dark Wizards."

Harry's stomach churned. Hogwarts had been his home since he'd found out about magic seven years earlier.

"Hogwarts will be preserved, of course. It's too important to wizards to destroy."

"I'll think about it."


	3. Eight Months After Owlstone Opened

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from JKR's Harry Potter.

**Thanks go to you, my readers and reviewers! Draco and Scorpius Malfoy have been selected as the characters for the special thanks. Time for the chapter!  
**

* * *

**Eight Months After Owlstone Opened**

In his career, Harry was a busy man, with more responsibilities than the average Auror. Remembering his successful teaching skills from Dumbledore's Army, several had pushed for him to be the one to train new Aurors.

Harry was busy enough that he had not been able to take Lily to Hogwarts. His daughter was starting to worry that she'd never get to see the famous school.

"Mum," she said one day, "Dad's never going to take me to Hogwarts, is he?"

"Lily, go easy on your father," Ginny said. "He's got a full plate at the moment."

"But mum, when will I get to go to Hogwarts? I've been waiting since the boys left for Owlstone to see it. The boys are almost back for summer, and I still haven't gone!"

"Lily, you'll see it. You're father's already made arrangements to take a vacation in June, to take you then. Besides, with some of your brothers around, there will be more people to show you Hogwarts' secrets. There's a good chance your brothers have found secrets that your parents have missed."

"I'll wait until June," Lily agreed, "but I want to actually _go_ to Hogwarts then!"

* * *

"Sir, the train along the track to the shack has just doubled the trips it makes in a day," the pilot reported.

"Well done. I can't pretend there's nothing going on. I'm sending you some help to figure out what's going on in that area."

"Excellent! Any theories, sir?"

"Just one; I think the Prime Minister is hiding something. Whatever it is, it's most likely something dangerous and underground. Get closer to that run-down hovel and see if you can tell what's happening."

"I can't, sir. The equipment starts malfunctioning each time I get within a close range of the shack."

"That's an order! Or did you forget who's in charge of surveillance here?"

"Yes, sir! Heading in now."

Nervously, the pilot changed his course to move closer to the shack. As predicted, the plane went haywire, forcing the pilot to loose control. Spinning and spiraling as it went, it headed straight over the shack.

* * *

The wizards looked up as the Muggle plane squiggled a flight pattern above Hogwarts. "Look Dad," a boy said to his father, pointing to the plane. "Who invited _the Muggles_ here?"

"No one, Scorpius," Draco replied. "Let's teach them to come here undesired, shall we? Let's see, I think the creatures of the Forbidden Forest will make excellent teachers of the lesson."

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Draco guided the plane over the forest, pointing it downward before releasing the spell.

The Malfoys watched as the plane disappeared from sight.

* * *

Crash! The plane collided with the ground, bounced once, then skidded for a second, leaving a trail of uprooted plants behind it. The pilot felt for himself. Luckily for him, he was still alive at the moment. He grabbed his survival kit and climbed out of the wreck.

"What are you doing here?" a rough voice demanded. The pilot looked up. Standing around him, were what he could only recognize as centaurs out of mythology books. There was a full heard of them, all aiming arrows at him.


	4. The Hogwarts Assignment

**Sorry for leaving this story hanging for so long. My style has changed since my last update, so I might go back and revise the first three chapters just for style. Since those of you that have been reading this story probably don't remember it by now, I'll give a quick summary of the first three chapters, reply to the reviews, (reviews included,) add on a disclaimer, and then continue the story!**

Quick summary:

Harry became an Auror. The Ministry decided to open up a new school (Owlstone Academy of Magic) just before Arthur Weasley became the new Minister of Magic. Harry helped to place protections on Owlstone. The Prophet had an article on how they think the new school would compare to Hogwarts. Harry's daughter Lily saw the article and was upset.

Hogwarts remained open as a tourist attraction, and Harry promised to take Lily on a tour. Unfortunately, the increased wizarding traffic to and from Hogwarts got Muggles suspicious. (The Muggles in British intelligence seemed to suspect that the increased activity the Prime Minister was hiding something there.) A plane was sent to survey the area, and although the pilot knew that his instruments would go haywire if he went in to get a better look, he flew towards Hogwarts under orders.

Wizarding tourists were surprised to see the plane coming at them and losing control. Draco Malfoy and his son happened to be there, and they weren't happy about Muggles being there. Draco Malfoy helped the plane to crash in the dangerous Forbidden Forest instead of on the safer castle grounds. The pilot got captured by angry centaurs.

**Review Replies:**

**xXAnimeKittenXx**

**Review: "I loved it. Please update more, I need to know what happens next!"**

**Reply: I hope this story is still going to be entertaining more, and I'm sorry again about the ridiculously long wait.**

**Luiz4200**

**Review: "And I was thinking Draco would be somwhat a better person after the Elder Wand thing. Please update. What about including the Dursleys."**

**Reply: I wasn't sure one incident, even one like the Elder Wand, would be enough to counter a lifetime of thinking and acting the way he and his family did. As for the Dursleys, this story may be too short to include many characters.**

**Thanks for the reviews! :)**

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is JK Rowling's intellectual property. I am just a fan.

* * *

The Hogwarts Assignment

Kingsley's head appeared in the Potter's fireplace. "Psst... Psst... Hey James! Is your father around?"

"Yeah," James said. "He's around somewhere."

"Would you go get him? I need to have a word with him."

James ran off, and moments later, Harry Potter was coming toward the fireplace. "Morning, Kingsley," the Auror said.

"Good morning, Harry. Lovely weather we've been having, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "but I doubt you just wanted to have a chat with me about the weather."

"Indeed not. I'm afraid I have an assignment for you. It seems there has been a breach of security at Hogwarts - a _Muggle_ breach of security."

"A _Muggle _breach of security? What do you mean?"

The idea was mind-boggling to Harry. Hogwarts had been the safest place in the world back in Harry's school days. Not only was Dumbledore there until the final year of his enrollment, but Hogwarts had been designed with the best magical protections that could be thought of by its four brilliant founders: Helga Hufflepuff, Rovena Ravenclaw - who was renowned for her wisdom, Godric Gryffindor - whose house Harry had been placed in on that day so many years ago shortly after discovering that he was a wizard, and - yes - even Salazar Slytherin had helped put some protections on the school.

Sure it had been invaded by Dark Wizards in his sixth year of school, and run by such wizards in what would've been his final year, but those were still wizards. Harry knew The Daily Prophet was spreading rumors around about Muggle charities taking an interest in Hogwarts, but that couldn't be the case, could it? Hogwarts had more than just a disguise as protection against them.

"I mean just that Harry, there has been a Muggle breach in security," Kingsley said. "A small plane was spotted circling the area, and then headed toward Hogwarts. It crash-landed in the Forbidden Forest. We need you to get to Hogwarts, and go into the Forbidden Forest. Find the pilot. Offer any assistance you can, and find out just what a Muggle plane was doing around Hogwarts. If you fail, and no one will like the consequences much, but we might need to cut off public access to Hogwarts altogether."

Harry felt his fists clenching into balls. "'Cut off public access to Hogwarts altogether?'" he repeated. "Are you mad? Don't you have any idea what that would mean?"

"Yes, I do. It's a desperate measure." Kingsley said. "I don't think it's going to come to _that_ though. I have full confidence in your abilities, Harry, and trust that you will be able to succeed in this mission. You have a week. Good luck."

Unbeknownst to the Auror, his daughter Lily had hidden behind the couch and listened in on the conversation - and she knew that in order to get to Hogwarts, you had to take the train. She was coming with him.

* * *

Harry boarded the Hogwarts Express for the first time since he was a teenager. He could almost imagine himself as an eleven-year-old boy who'd recently learned about magic and was looking forward to learning about the world he had come from: the magical world away from the Dursleys.

He leaned back, enjoying how empty the compartment was at the moment, and watched other witches and wizards get on the train.

Amazingly, his compartment remained empty as the train started to chug along the tracks. But then, he heard a giggle coming from up on the luggage rack. Having a feeling that someone was there, hiding under an invisibility cloak, Harry pulled out his wand and did a summoning charm. His dad's old cloak he'd packed came flying at him, revealing a very embarrased, still giggling, Lily Potter.

"Lily," the Auror said. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry Daddy," she said in her sweetest voice, "but you promised I could see Hogwarts, and that won't happen if they close it off."

"And how did you know about that?"

Lily was quiet as she tried to think of a way to say how she'd found out, without making it sound too bad. "I couldn't help but overhear you and Kingsley," she finally whispered, but her father, suspicious, frowned. "Okay, okay. So maybe I eavesdropped on you. Uncle Ron says you did that all the time when you were a kid."

"You shouldn't have come," her father said crossly. "Do you have any idea how worried your mum will be about you?"

"She won't worry when she sees grandmum's clock. It's not like my hand's pointing to mortal danger or anything!"

"No, but I reckon it's pointed to you being in trouble right about now."

The rest of the train ride was spent in an awkward silence, only broken by the trolley lady asking if either of them would like to buy some sweets. When they got to Hogwarts, Harry sent Lily off toward the guided tour after warning her of how much trouble she'd be in if she dared step foot in the Forbidden Forest.

The Auror snagged another tour guide, one that looked like he was on break, and asked, "Did you see the Muggle vehicle that went down in the Forbidden Forest the other day?"

"Yeah, but don't you go tellin' the Prophet about that."

"About where did it land?"

Harry followed the guide's extended finger into the forest and looked for signs that an airplane had come down. He found them quite easily: broken limbs here and there, some scorch marks, and then finally a trail of upset earth ending in the corpse of an aircraft.

The good news was that he'd found the aircraft, and no sign that the pilot had died. The bad news was that he found some hoof-prints and some horse hairs around. Harry knew from his own experiences in the Forbidden Forest that centaurs didn't always take too kindly to humans.


End file.
